Title

ELENI KOLAITOU SCULPTURE 1995 - 2017

Eleni Kolaitou

Apr 15, 2017 to Nov 15, 2018

WHERE:

AK ART FOUNDATIONAK OIAAK FIRAAK ATHENS

This is a permanent exhibition which takes place at all four AK spaces and presents a collection of sculptures created between 1995 and 2014. Eleni Kolaitou displays her sculptural compositions inspired by the human figure, as well as those of birds, animals and insects, using bronze and gold for her jewelry collection. The exhibition also includes a series of purely formalist clay pieces. In her bronze works, the artist explores how human and animal shapes embody the essence of morphology in nature, thus revealing the deeper meaning of their fundamental form. Through abstraction and synthesis of the morphological elements afforded by nature, Kolaitou’s sculptures illustrate the aesthetic version of these elements. Her nudes, for example, do not stop at the depiction of man’s external appearance, but delve into the expression of formalist structures, which endow the bodies with aesthetic appeal and substance. The advanced level of formalist enquiry in the artist’s works makes her art unique and particularly fascinating, as well as highly collectible. With her profound experience of materials and their divergences in terms of volume and colour, Kolaitou ultimately arrives at a form which she has termed a “Contre-Objet d’ Art”.

Eleni Kolaitou

Eleni Kolaitou, a highly lauded Greek sculptor, consistently arouses the visitor’s aesthetic interest and awareness through her sophisticated creations in bronze, ceramic and gold. Also, in collaboration with Katonas Asimis, she contributed to the architectural design and creation of the AK Art Foundation.

In her sculptures, the classical forms meet modernism head on through a personal conception of plasticity and the harmonious marriage between different elements.

Eleni Kolaitou was born in Cephalonia. She studied Sculpture and Ceramics on a scholarship at the Athens School of Fine Arts. Later, while seeking new artistic forms of expression, she delved into the techniques of creating metal jewelry. Selecting gold as a material of extraordinary properties, and utilizing the infinite range of colour afforded by precious stones, she is a jewelry maker famous for the finesse and timelessness of her works.

In our days, it is a rare and unexpected pleasure to taste the fruits of the labour of a sculptor whose artistic perception is deeply rooted in sculpture’s classical principles, which infuse her work with true substance and meaning. Beyond the contemporary essence of her creations, Eleni Kolaitou demonstrates a profound understanding of the distinct elements present in her works and forges relationships of harmony between them. Her extensive experience has allowed her to develop her own codes, which are founded on the classical notions of plasticity and harmony in sculpture. Thus, the sculpted form acquires immense power and simplicity, and this is what renders the artist’s creations so imaginative; her insistence on enduring standards of proportionality. For this reason, her works illuminate a solid perception of the essence of things, as well as the priceless and classic nature of aesthetic beauty.

Her works grace collections around the world, and she is highly valued as a very important representative of the Greek fine arts. Her large scale creations are located at the AK Art Foundation exterior space, where the visitor can also enjoy her world-renowned 22-carat gold handmade jewelry collection. Each piece of this collection is an exclusive creation, designed and handcrafted individually by the artist herself.